Thursday, November 16, 2017

Far from Noise Review (PS4)

Trapped in a car hanging precariously off the edge of a
seaside cliff, you can’t move for fear that any change will cause the car to
finally break free and plunge into the ocean. All you can do is sit there, look
at the setting sun dipping into the ocean, and wonder how you ended up in such
a predicament. That is Far from Noise, a fantastic new indie game on PS4. There
isn’t any gameplay to speak of besides making dialogue choices, which will
certainly put some folks off, but if you give it a chance you’ll find one of
the best experiences of 2017 thanks to fantastic presentation, great writing,
and memorable moments scattered through its roughly 90-minute runtime. I love
it and I can’t stop thinking about it. See all of the details in our full Far
from Noise PS4 review.

In Far from Noise you aren’t so much playing as you are just
watching. A woman has accidentally driven her car just barely off the edge of
an oceanside cliff one late afternoon and it is teetering precariously there.
One wrong move and the car will almost certainly plunge into the ocean and
rocks below. All the woman can really do is sit and wait and think. And all you
can do is watch.

Over the course of the game, which lasts into the evening
and through the night all the way until the next morning – which takes about
80-90 minutes of play time – you will learn all about the woman’s past and how
she ended up in this situation. Your only gameplay input is to choose from 1-3
dialogue options at any given time via the d-pad. The character is not meant to
represent you, however, as the dialogue options are always from the woman’s
point of view and based on her personality. You mostly get to choose whether
she’s pessimistic or optimistic in a given situation, or whether to take an
action like honking the horn or turning on the car radio. You are just along
for the ride to watch and listen and learn about the situation.

It may sound boring to play a game where you’re just
watching a car teeter on the edge of a cliff while the characters wax
philosophic for 90-minutes, but what makes Far from Noise so special and
memorable is that it is full of spectacularly wonderful little natural moments.
The game has a day/night cycle, so you watch the sun set and the stars come
out, birds fly by and insects lazily flutter around, you hear the crashing of
the ocean and the whistling of the wind, and it is all beautiful. Occasionally
animals will appear as well, which lead to some funny and interesting and cool
moments, with the most spectacular, and most important, being the appearance of
a massive deer. This deer is special. This deer can talk to the woman.

Much of the game is spent in a conversation between the deer
and the woman. The deer talks in broad strokes about life, the universe, and
everything from the perspective of nature and the woman interprets it all
through the experiences of a human. Peppered in throughout their heavy
philosophical discussion are the little moments I mentioned above – such as a
storm suddenly brewing or a tortoise showing up – which steer the conversation
briefly on a tangent before returning back to life, death, and being stuck in a
car hanging off the edge of a cliff.

I would say that the game is perhaps a little too wordy and
slowly paced for its own good, but the deeper I got into the experience the more
I appreciated the pacing and tone. The little fun moments are 100x more
impactful and interesting because of the methodical nature of the game. They
are also important because they keep the game from getting too heavy and
intellectual and philosophical by breaking up the conversation into more
digestible chunks. It never comes across as pretentious, which is always a risk
when making something like this.

I’m sorry that I’m not being more specific about events or
details, but experiencing those things firsthand is what makes Far from Noise
so interesting and fun. I think it is also important to note that it isn’t a
strictly linear experience. Depending on what choices you make, the
conversations can go slightly differently and unique events can occur. In my
two playthroughs a lot of different things happened based on only a few
different choices, which is very cool. Getting all of the PS4 trophies will
require multiple playthroughs, too, so there is a surprising amount of replay
value here. Considering it is just $8 makes the value prospect even better.

The presentation is absolutely beautiful in Far from Noise.
The graphics are simple low-detail low poly models, but it all looks fantastic.
The scale of the game is very small – it all takes place in one scene,
basically – but the camera moves around now and then and it is very well
thought out and more dynamic than you’d expect. The lighting is also
praiseworthy as the transitions to evening, to night, to morning are quite
impressive. It is all so subtle, but beautiful.

The sound is also well done. The ambient sound effects for
the crashing ocean waves and wind are just awesome and the subtle and expertly
crafted soundtrack that swells at all of the perfect moments is simply
excellent. The sound as a whole is surprisingly calm and relaxing. I could go
to sleep to an MP3 of this game, and I mean that in the best way possible.

The end result is a game that is, admittedly, pretty boring
as far as gameplay goes, but one that is also very memorable and thought
provoking and worthwhile. It captures your attention through the core premise
of the situation the woman is in but then makes the appearance of a squirrel or
a sudden burst of wind the most interesting thing that can possibly happen to
keep you engaged. It’s impossible not to get invested despite the game
consisting of little more than a cliff, a car, a tree, the ocean, and a deer. I
love it. I’m well aware that it won’t appeal to everyone, but if you like
walking simulator-style games and other narrative driven adventures, Far from
Noise is absolutely worth a look. Buy it.